The Bank of Mum and Dad still going strong

Maureen Ferrier

Parents and grandparents supported young adults to the tune of almost £37 billion in the last year.

Parents handed over £30.65 billion to their over-18 offspring, while grandparents chipped in another £6 billion.

The 2015 Lloyds Bank Family Savings Report reveals that while most expect this support to come in the form of a deposit to help get on the housing ladder, increasingly it is everyday expenses that are being supported, with rent payments almost doubling in the past two years.

Total handouts this year are £1 billion up on 2014, and more than £5 billion in the last two years.

On a per-head basis, UK 18-64s now receive an average of £916 a year from parents and grandparents together, including a whopping £763 a year from parents alone.

And it is money handed over willingly – two-thirds of UK adults feel that children cannot hope to achieve success in life without financial support from their parents, and close to three-quarters believe that parental financial support will become more important in future.

Weddings and houses remain high on the list for reasons for lending money, but the increasing demands on the bank of mum and dad were driven primarily by increases in levels of help with rent payments and buying cars.

Other items on the rise in the past year are help with day-to-day shopping and buying appliances.

Philip Robinson, Savings Director for Lloyds Bank, commented; “Parents must sometimes feel that they are on a merry-go-round with their grown up children’s financial needs. As we move away from demands for cash debt relief and help with energy bills, we see increases in demands for more fundamental help with housing costs and big-ticket purchases.”